After the War
by pyro.grizzly.bear
Summary: After the war things are still tense among the people.The real problem are the rebels,as they are threatening to ruin mors of another air bender are abroad too.Join 4unlikely friends as they travel to find the avie&fight the rebels.Sum inside
1. Chapter 1

**I've tried writing this before, but it was a bust and actually didn't have a story line anyways. Well now that my laptop is working again and I'm writing pages to the story, I'm reading to have another go at it. It helps that Korra has been adding to my creativity now xD  
**

**Disclaimer: Again I only own my character** **and her pet. My friends own Karu, Kaytrine, Zulani, and their pets. I do not own Avatar the last airbender stuffs...**

**I also still urge people to go to the websites that my friends and I painstakingly made over the past two years. The url thing is on the first page.**

* * *

**Summary -** After the war there is still a lot of tension among everyone. The Fire Nation are tip-toeing around the rest of the nations, afraid that one wrong move will send them into another war. People are afraid to trust them, but slowly things are becoming easier. If only the rebels would let things be...they believe they can rise up and defeat the the firelord and start a whole knew era where not only fire benders rule (though that would be the main bending) but others as well. Four unlikely teens are suddenly thrust together by fate. Together they learn the deep dark secrets of the spirits and bending. They need all the trick of the trade, perhaps even the avatar as well, to take down this new threat.

* * *

**Naomi-Water**

Far up in the North pole is a barren land full of ice, snow, and water. No one could believe that anyone could survive there, but in truth a whole tribe of Pope did. It was a city, a nation actually. They were the water nation. Many families lived in the main city, but there were a few villages scattered around it. One in particular had a village full of female water benders, they were fighters, kept secret from the master water bender there. The law of the nation was that females weren't to be fighter but healers.

But there was one family with females who wished to fight to protect their people. It was started by females and no man is allowed there, unless they are married to one of the warriors or a son. The men are sent to Master Pakku and come back to show the women what they have learned. The women on the other hand have an older women who had traveled all over and learned much. She taught the females everything about bending, but only a few learned how to blood bend.

After the war, the idea of women fighting wasn't so bad, but they refused to share their secrets. As a result, they were banished from the city all together and were made to fend for themselves, not that they had a problem with that.

One girl decided she wanted more to life than learning to fight and hunt. She was eighteen and had the urge to travel the world, she didn't want to hear stories and tales, but wanted to experience things for herself. So she packed up without her parents knowing, though they knew it was going to happen sooner or later, and left. She wrote a note, saying she would send her Polar Hawkowl with letters as she made her way around the world.

With the young women was a small raccoon dog, big enough that was able to fit in her messenger bag and on her shoulder or hood if he wanted. He had a thick coat with a silver white shimmer as his main color and three large gray stripes on his back with three rings around his tail, the third ending with a gray tip. His face connecting gray spots, like a mask, and his paws had gray socks, which was basically gray up to his what would be equivalent to ankles on humans. His eyes were a bright yellow color. The odd animal was a polar Coondog named Bahgeera, occasionally Boogie or Geera.

The girl was about eighteen and dressed in a thick warm buffalo yak coat that had the same color as one, an off white color. Underneath it was a long-sleeved white dress similar to what most girls wore here with black tights underneath and big thick boots. Her hair was cut jaggedly, a sign that she cut it in a hurry, and it frizzed up a bit with curls. It was a dark brown-red color with blonde, also known as dishwater color. Her eyes were a teal color and her skin was tan, a natural one that came with having intermixed blood of all the nations in her family.

Naomi reached the edge of the pack of ice and stared out at the vast sea. She had no clue how she was going to get off this island. A caw over head made her look up to the sky and saw her light colored Hawk Owl. She seemed to blend into the clouds up above. She carried the name Gwen.

The bird swooped down to shriek at her friend and go back to the skies, going straight for the ports. Today was the day the ships arrived to trade. The girl's face lit up as she rushed to the main city to the port where she'd sneak onto a trading ship.

Once on board she looked down at her clothing and then to some of the other nation's clothing. No way was she going to fit in, so she began to dig around until she found some cloths. She opted for the earth nation box, because it had more browns, which could be a universal thing. She smiled to herself and dive-bombed into the box.

In the end Naomi found herself an off white long sleeved shirt made of thin material. It was a little baggy on her arms, but it was skin tight on her waist and stomach. Over it she put on a brown sleeveless tunic with a hood to it. She kept the black tights as she pulled on some pants she picked that was made of some kind of deer like skin, like the brown tunic, and slightly flared out towards her feet. She picked out some moccasins and tied them on so they would go off anywhere. Satisfied with herself she turned to her water nation cloths and sighed. She'd miss them, but if she kept'em then she'd just add more weight to her bag, and she didn't need that.

So she folded them up and placed them next to the earth nation box, an offer of trade for taking the cloths. On her way out she saw a dark brown hooded cloak, and couldn't resist but to take it pulled her about shoulder length hair up into a pony tail, her hair fringed out at the sides. It was parted on the left, so most of the fringe covered the right side of her face.

She looked down to the bag that held Geera and smiled. "How do I look?" She asked and twirled. The Coondog barked and fell out from the bag.

"Hey, who's down there?" A voice asked from the other side of the door. A merchant had come down to investigate. Naomi pulled the bag over her had and then put her brown bag full of her necessities onto her shoulder along with her arrows case. She gripped her bow and hid behind some boxes and, when the man wasn't looking, snuck out of the room and onto the deck where she breathed in the smells of the ocean.

* * *

**Kaytrine- Earth**

Somewhere in the earth lands there was a village. It was rather large, but it was mostly a merchant's haven where they could safely make exchanges or just spend the night. It was huge highway and not far off the coast, so it made sense that a lot of the merchants would come here.

One merchant's daughter was sitting on the tail of a wagon with a bored expression. She had on a long mid thigh length sleeveless tunic that was dark green with a gold tie that tied at her waist. Underneath it was a lighter green long sleeves and she worse baggy pants with brown boots. Her hair was long, but up into pony tail to keep it out of her tanned face. The girl's eyes were a warm brown color and full of mischief. Beside her in the wagon was a weird looking dog like creature. It had the looks of a mole, but had the back paws of a dog, as well as a long skinny tail. He had feelers that came from hismole like snout like whiskers and his eyes were very small, like a bat's. This sandy brown dog was blind to the world and solely relied on his floppy ears and feelers to sense the world around him.

"Kaytrine, be useful and hand me that box of jewelry." A similar looking male said. He was older, much older, than the girl. She was about seventeen while the man before her was old enough to be her grandfather. In fact, he was!

"Yes sir." She sighed and hauled herself up to reach farther into the wagon. The two ostrich-horse hooked to the wagon groaned in annoyance as the wagon shook and squeaked to her movements.

She handed the box to him, and only ended up being the one to set out the jewelry. Kaytrine just kept telling herself that in a few days she would no longer be just a merchant's daughter working with her grandfather, she'd be out traveling the world. Just a few more days and she'd finally be free!

As the day wore the sun crept across the sky and many of the things Kaytrine had set out had been traded. Her family was known for being one of the top sellers and were great with sneaking around and tricking the buyer to get a lower price.

Kaytrine left the stand early to grab a bite to eat for her and her grandfather when she ran into a peculiar girl around her age. She had black cropped hair and yellow eyes. Her skin was tan, but she was unmistakably fire nation. She had a dark maroon cloak on with golden strings. It was expensive looking material, but the girl still blended into the crowd. Kaytrine would have over looked her too if it wasn't for the fact that her mole-dog, Kiu, was growling at her.

"Easy Kiu, I know she's fire nation." Kaytrine said and set her hand on the rope collar around the dog's neck. He settle down a little bit, but he wasn't happy.

She bought some freshly made bred and cooked ham with a block of cheese. Plenty to make some sandwiches now and have some left over for later. Kaytrine also couldn't resist and had to by sweet pastries as well.

When she arrived at the stand she saw her grand father already packing up for the day. She handed him the food and they sat down for an early dinner before they went back to their rented out hotel room. They'd be staying her for three more days, and on the third day she and her grandfather would go their separate ways.

Later, before night fall, signs of a storm was picking up. It irritated her greatly, especially since she'd been planning on training with her bending. However, it would have to wait because she had to make sure everything was secure and in place before the storm hit.

* * *

**Zulani-Fire**

It was barely after dawn that a newly arrived merchant entered the highway town of Phinniece. He was a tired and grumpy old man, a sort of no non-sense type of man. He was a hunter and had many pelts in his tarp covered wagon. The only thing that wasn't an animal skin was the seventeen year old girl that was peacefully sleeping amongst them. She wore a dark maroon cloak with golden strings, but underneath was a short sleeved red tunic that stopped a little bit after her waist, showing her stomach, and baggy dark red pants that stopped at her knees, where it was tied together there in a perfect bow with golden stings. On her feet were a type of brown-maroon moccasins, or some type of flats. Her hair was cropped short and stopped at her chin, but it was currently a mop on her head.

When the wagon came to a stop she paid the merchant for letting her hitch a ride. She shouldered her black backpack and continued on her way. The merchant didn't even bother to wait for her to disappear to search his wagon and make sure everything was still there. But if he'd been really paying attention, he would have saw the reptilian head stick out of the bag to watch the man with bright red eyes. It let out a purr of a growl to the girl, who in turn scolded the creature for sticking it's head out. After all, not too many were familiar with dragons.

From the looks of it this girl had been on the run for a long while, the way she looked rough and tired. This girl was Zulani, the second cousin of the new firelord, and though she's been writing to him, she's still reluctant to go home. A Lot of the generals there were still sour with the new idea of being kind hearted, and she would much rather be exploring the world like she had been for the past five years. Pretty much ever since the avatar was found alive she's been on her own. Well, she did have her smokey grey dragon, Rayfire, to keep her company.

Zulani easily hid in plain sight, she's had a few years of practice with blending in. Not even her golden eyes could startle anyone into suspecting fire nation, well unless they really got a good look at her, but she was sufficient with staying to shadows and staying under most's radars.

Currently she was trying to find information on the next Merchant's ship out of here, she was on her way to Ba Sing Se, though it wasn't quite what it used to be, it was a great place to get a job. Zulani was in need of more money, and so that meant she had to settle down for a few months and restock on money before she went back on her travelings.

When she did find the merchant ships, no one would give her a ride out to sea. Apparently a storm was kicking up and it was advised to everyone to rent out a hotel room and endure the next couple of nights were already high tailing it out of dodge and on their way to the next profitable city.

She sighed and looked down at her money. She needed all of it to travel to a Ba Sing Se, not to camp out in a hotel room. Though it looked like she was out of luck. 'Maybe if I left now?' She thought to herself, but on foot it would be dangerous, because she'd be out to endure the weather.

She began her rounds through all the hotels, trying to find the cheapest one. As she did she noticed a merchant girl who looked to be about her age with a green bandana tied in her hair. She looked really annoyed as she tied on a tarp over the wagon. The wind picked up and untied all the knots she'd made, making her growl out in frustration.

"Need help?" Zulani asked the girl. She looked skeptical at first, nothing ne there.

She shrugged and said, "Sure, grab that side and I'll so this one."

The two set to work and eventually had it secured just in time for the wind to really start to pick up. Zulani looked worriedly, while she'd been helping out the girl she'd lost precious time in finding a room.

"So, I've been watching you." The girl said out of no where, startling Zulani.

"You...have?"

"Yup, and I noticed that not only are you fire nation, but you don't have a place to stay. So since you've helped me, I'll help you. You can stay the night with me and my grandfather. Well, we'll share a room while he takes another." She smiled a friendly smiled, which made Zulani skeptical.

"Are you sure you trust me? We've only just met."

"Is there any reason I shouldn't?" The girl asked with one eyebrow arched up wards and her voice teasing.

Zulani smiled and bowed the fire nation bow that had been pounded in her brain since she was born. She didn't even think about it, just wanted to show her respect and to show that she was very thankful. "Thank you." she gratefully said.

"No problem." She waved her off. "By the way, the name's Kaytrine."

"Zulani." The fire nation girl said as she followed the earth nation girl inside.

The the two didn't know it at the time, but this meeting was no mistake, and that their lives were forever entertwined.

* * *

**Karu-Air**

"Torak, can't be swimming in the water forever, I hope you know." A boy said to a large massive light brown fluff ball. It was a young sky bison, smaller than the one we all know as Appa. The creature roared tiredly to the boy. They'd been flying for a long time from the northern water tribe. They'd recently visited the land, in search of the avatar to let him know he wasn't the only air bender out there. No doubt Appa would be happy to see a mini Appa.

The boy was about five foot six inches and had pale grey eyes. His hair was very little, not bald like Aang because for the past few years Karu has had to blend in and not stand out. His cloths were simple, a short sleeved dark green tunic and brown baggy pants. He had brown boots to go with it. He was around seventeen, nearly eighteen though.

As the bison lazily swam he noticed a fleet of merchant ships and a commotion going on on the top deck. There was a girl water bending and running around one ship while everyone was trying to catch her. She refused to be caught and, though a little clumsy thanks to the unstable ground, was getting the upper hand in the mess. After all her weapon was all around in in the air and the water. But she was just dodging thins and using her bending when necessary. She had made some sort of solid ice shield out of her bow and was using that to protect herself.

"Well there's something you don't see every day. And that's saying something for us." He chuckled as the bison swam closer.

Out of no where a spear shattered her shield of ice and knocked her to the ground. The soldiers and merchants came closer with intent of arresting her for spirits knows what until Karu decided enough was enough and flew over to the ship to help the girl.

* * *

**Naomi-water**

It wasn't until a day after she'd been on the boat that they realized something was up. They didn't think it was a girl until they took another look at the goods and learned they were being tampered with. Furious they went to the only unfamiliar face there, Naomi.

She put up a good fight, but it was a lost cause because she was having a fit of motion sickness aboard the ship. Any other time she'd be throwing water whip after water whip and flying razor ice disks of death, as she liked to call it, but today was just not her day.

Her savior came in the form of a flying boy, which was odd. She though her motion sickness had gotten the best of her, but he helped her escape once he swiped his stick and a gust of went made more than half the crew fly off into the ocean. If Naomi hadn't of felt as sick as she did then she would have found that funny.

When he flew back to his bison she held onto him for dear life. She hate heights with a passion, so she latched onto him in a way that made him nearly unable to breathe. When he landed on the saddle of the beast she all but collapsed.

"Are you okay?" he asked her. She nodded, but her face was white as the ice she grew up around.

"I don't feel so good..." She groaned and huddled up on the far edges of the saddle. Bahgeera made himself known bye growling and barking like a little terrier at the boy, who rolled his eyes.

Within a few minutes the boy had urged the bison into flight, Naomi was too sick to have a moment of pure fear as it flew higher and higher away from the water. A couple hours had passed and she was beginning to feel loads better, except for the knots in her stomach, the kind she only gets when she's very high up. Bahgeera was curled up next to her, trying to comfort, but she was far too terrified to pay attention.

When she finally didn't feel like emptying the contents of her stomach onto the saddle of the best, Naomi pushed herself up into a sitting position and glared at the boy who sat on the monster's head. "What the heck is going on here?" She said, trying her best to scream over the wind that was carrying her voice in the opposite direction.

* * *

**Karu-Air**

Karu had to admit, he was a little worried about the girl. Hours had gone by and she was still huddled over on the other side of the bison with her eyes tightly closed, as if she was trying to block out the world. He was busing himself by reading a book he'd had in his bag. Before he knew it she was yelling at him.

"We're flying." He flatly said, as if it was the most obvious and not out of the ordinary thing in the world.

"Yeah I get that! But what I don't get is _how, for the love of spirits, are we FLYING_?" She screamed again. He sighed and glared at the girl. Poor Torak had his ears pressed down and growled, annoyed by the screaming girl.

"That's a great thanks for saving you sorry butt from those merchants and soldiers." He scoffed. "Torak here is a sky bison, like the avatar's bison."

The girl shut up and looked at him as if he'd grown another head. "B-but how?...I thought...I thought Aang was the only airbender, and that Appa was the only sky bison left?"

"Nope, I'm an air bender." To prove his point he opened up his glider and took a couple laps around the bison before landing gracefully on the saddle.

"I've finally gone insane." The girl muttered and fell back onto the saddle, though it didn't look like she fainted, just staring at the sky._ 'I can't believe I saved her...'_ he grumbled to himself and settled back down on Torak's fluffy head.

"Wait a minute! Where were _you_ when the avatar needed help? Why couldn't you lend some help and let him know he _wasn't_ the last airbender?" She shouted.

"Because, that was two years ago, and do you know how hard it is to _not_ show your an airbender _and_ try and get out of a heavily guarded village? Besides, I tried to track him down, but there was no way to get to him, all his sighting were bounced around and didn't make sense!" Karu shouted back to her. She huffed and crossed her arms, she looked very pissed off at him. What did he care though? He'd just accused him of not caring about the avatar!

Karu sighed and shook his head. No doubt any peace he'd get from here on out would be gone for ever, unless he could some how ditch her in the next town.

* * *

**Noami-Water**

All the following day She asked questions. She knew she was irritating the boy, but she couldn't help it! It's not every day you meet an air bender. So far she'd learned that he was from a village that had a few air benders, most had gone into hiding so that they wouldn't be killed. They were everywhere, but mostly in the earth nation. When the avatar came back, they hadn't believed it at first. But then it came apparent that they needed to regain control of their villages, which was why he couldn't have helped the avatar, he and the others were busy trying to free themselves.

Naomi wanted to know everything, she was naturally a curious person. She began to get along with the beast, Torak, but she still hated flying, with a passion. But more than once Karu had threatened to leave her, she didn't know if he actually would, but she wasn't going to chance it. This kind of travel was much faster, and she wasn't going to leave until they came to a town.

They followed the coast line, figuring eventually they'd come upon a village of some sort. Some time during their seventh day together the clouds became creepy looking. She stopped talking as much that day because her focus was on the clouds. They were the big storm clouds that she'd encountered when she went on fishing trips with the fishermen.

"Karu, we need to find a village, now." The boy turned to scowl, the look on his face hinting that he'd had enough of her talking, but she must have had some different look on her face because he nodded and they flew closer to the ground. She could feel the electricity in the air, she was sure he must have felt it too, after all he was an air bender.

Bahgeera whine nervously and she picked him up to cuddle him. Even Torak was a little unsettled. It was a big spring storm, not out of the ordinary for this time of the year. If they didn't hurry about finding shelter, they could be stuck out here in a lighting show, and she didn't feel like being fried.

As the clouds darkened they found a village. The only movement was of people securing their things and putting animals in stables. Others were securing their homes or hotel rooms.

They went to a shed where Karu led Torak into. he made a meal of the hay, making her scold him for eating it.

"Relax, we'll just leave before any one notices that he ate it." Karu shrugged. Noami glared at him before grabbing a few hay bails before Torak could swipe them. she took out her blanket and she made herself a make-shift bed on it.

Not an hour after they landed the storm hit. She watched the lighting out of the window of the shed with, she'd always liked to watch it. It was like a light show for everyone to see, a dangerous and deadly one. Geera cuddled up next to her as the temperature dropped in the shed and the wind picked up.

* * *

**Karu**

Karu leaned into Torak's fluff, not needing a blanket with the warmth Torak gave off. He watched Noami as she watched the lightning. Curiosity and wonder were all over her face as she smiled. He sighed and turned away from her. For an annoying talkative person, she wasn't so bad. Not that he'd ever tell her that to her face. _'Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing saving her after all.'_

When he found himself glancing over at the water bender again, he saw she was sound asleep and the creepy glowing yellow eyes of the Coondog was watching him. Torak was asleep, so there was no talking to him. Instead he began to think about where they would go after the storm. The thought of ditching Noami had left his thoughts, he told himself it was because she had no chance surviving out there without someone to help her.

Torak was starting to like her anyways, and who was he to take a new friend from him. He pet the furry beast and resumed his thoughts on where they'd fly to next. He still wished to meet with the avatar, so he'd need to fly toward s the fire nation...unless Firelord Zuko and Avatar Aang weren't there and had gone to Ba Sing Se to visit, after all his uncle was there.

His mind was made up, they'd go to Ba Sing Se first, then the fire nation. He let himself fall asleep and didn't wake up until early the next morning when the thunder had gotten really bad for the time being. By noon Naomi was up and they were both restless, it was pouring down rain and the town still hadn't stirred.

After a day of being cooped up for a day, the worst of the storm had passed, leaving behind flooded walkways and a light rain. The merchants resumed their selling and prepared for anther's day at work. They put up tarps, anything to ward off the light rain.

All sorts of smells came as the some merchants began to cook their meats. It was rather sickening for Karu, being vegan and only ate fish, so they weren't appetizing to him, but Naomi was awake with the first strong smells of meat cooking.

"Food!" She cried, though she'd just eaten some of her jerky not too long ago. Karu pointed this out to her, earning an icy glare that made him want to cower away from her.

She packed up her things and turned to Karu with a determined look. "Guess I'll be on my way now." she smiled a friendly smiled before waving to him and patting Torak.

"Are you sure you want to leave?" Karu asked skeptically.

"Well yeah, I've things I need to do." She shrugged. "Besides, I'm sure you'll be happier with me gone, more peace and quiet for you." Her smile looked to be forced as she walked out of the shed. "Good luck finding the avatar!" She said and walked out into the streets.

He stared at the door as she left through, surprised that she'd actually leave before he had a chance to even try and ditch her. Torak looked to the window and turned back to Karu, and his looked seemed to ask 'that's what you wanted, right?'

"Yup, peace and quiet for us at last!" He said to Torak, though his voice seemed to echo. It was suddenly a lot emptier in here. He sighed and turned to the bison again. "Don't look at me like that!" He shouted. The bison still stared at him.

"Alright, Alright, I'll go find her." He grumbled and opened the door, slamming it as he left.

* * *

**Kaytrine**

As the storm crept up the shoreline the girls found themselves securing the room. From the look of the storm and how fast it was moving, they'd probably be stuck in here for a day or so. When they were settle inside she found herself staring into the eyes of an over-sized smokey-grey lizard with maroon eyes. She gasped, nearly screaming, and it hissed back at her and slither into Zulani's pack.

"What was THAT?" She cried and turned to Zulani, who was drying her hair. She'd just taken a hot bath and was now dressed in her cloths and no shoes, her cloak was on one of the two beds.

"Oh, that was my, uh, dragon." She smiled innocently.

"D-dragon? I thought they were all dead?" She cried as Kiu began to bark continuously at the pack. "Kiu, shut up!" She yelled. He whined and trotted over to his master.

"No, Rayfire has been in the family since before I was born. He's thirty years old, and still considered a baby. He has a lot of growing to do before he's a big bad fire breathing dragon." She smiled at the dragon as it poked it's head back out as it curiously looked around until it's eyes landed on Kaytrine.

After that shock was over, Kaytrine had no problem spending the night with her. She felt she could trust the foreign girl, even after she found that she was related to Firelord Zuko. She never really had a thing for all of the fire nation anyways and realized that not everyone was bad. Kaytrine accepted her friend and they had a fun time sharing stories and watching Rayfire tease Kiu.

When the storm ended, she was a little depressed at the thought of Zulani leaving and possibly never seeing her again.

"Hey Zulani?" Kaytrine asked. Zulani, who had been packing her things, turned to Kaytrine.

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering, well after today I'm going to start traveling, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me? After all it's safer in numbers right?" Kaytrine asked, not able to make eye contact, thinking her request was silly.

"Sure! It would be fun traveling with you, and plus I'd know that we wouldn't get ripped off with anything we buy." She smiled, laughing as Kaytrine blushed. Zulani was right, with Kaytrine's ability, if any was to get ripped of it would be the seller.

* * *

**Reviewing would be great, but I know that may be too much to ask for some of you guys. Well, off to type up another chapter...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two, because I already had it typed up xD I forgot about it and was about to start typing. AFTER this I will start typing it up. But it's seven at night, so don't expect another chapter until tomorrow  
**

**Disclaimer: Again I only own my character** **and her pet. My friends own Karu, Kaytrine, Zulani, and their pets. I do not own Avatar the last airbender stuffs...**

**I lied it's not on the first page xD as you all know by now -if you made it this far that is-  
**

**here:  
**

**http: / theavatarfanfiction. webs. com/**

**Just take out the spaces and you good to go~! ;D  
**

* * *

**Naomi**

"Bahgeera, stop that!" Naomi whispered loudly. The mischievous creature was sniffing every merchant stand. She wasn't sure if they'd take water nation money, but she had to hope for the best. It's all she had...though she supposed she could steal. It couldn't be so hard, could it?

Noami banished the though and scooped up Geera. The smell of different kind of meat was very appetizing, making her stomach growl. She searched her bag and found her emergency bag of foo, but it wasn't an emergency at the moment so she put it back in her pack. Naomi guessed she'd just go hunting later. It was cheaper in the long run.

Geera had other ideas. The fur ball snatched a piece of meat from a stand, it looked spicy and hot. Moments later Bahgeera was coughing and sneezing. Then man laughed whole heartily before speaking. "I'd say I wanted to replace my meat with him, but that sight was funny." He chuckled again. "Tell you what, how about twenty copper pieces?"

"Sir, all I have is water nation money, is that okay?" She asked worriedly.

"We're merchants lil' lady, we trade everywhere." He winked at her. Slightly creeped out she gave up her money and glared at her friend, who was still sneezing.

"You deserved that." Geera growled and jumped onto her and settled on her shoulder with his back legs in her hood and tail sticking out. Naomi rolled her eyes and kept walking.

After a while of walking she came up on a stand that had all sorts of trinkets and gadgets. She saw a few compasses mixed into some jewelry. At the stand were two girls, a fire nation and earth nation, with an odd mole like dog. It barked and in reply Geera growled. It was a brief glance the three had of each other and Naomi was on her way once more.

She knew she had to start moving on soon, but she wanted to enjoy being at port. Unfortunately it may not have been the best of things to do. She watched a mean looking ship dock. It was metal and sturdy, but the flag looked innocent enough. The men on board looked normal, brown tunics, boots that reach their knees, the classic seaman. Perhaps fisherman?

Naomi grew nervous as they took down their flag. She couldn't find anything wrong with it that made them take it down...so why had they? A few other similar ships docked, but they didn't tie their ropes to the dock. What really alarmed her that danger was around was the creepy reptilian bird that cawed above...and attacked a messenger hawk that was almost to its destination.

She searched the skies for her owl friend and hope she was safe. Noami quickly got to her feet and clumsily ran in the sand and up into the streets She was headed out of town...but then the thought of leaving with out telling Karu about the danger made her change courses.

* * *

**Karu**

The boy closed the door to the shed with a slight slam and looked around. He had no clue where to even begin with looking for the girl. He thought back to her comment about food and figured she'd browse the stands, so he went into the crowds and asked a few people if they'd seen her.

He could only hope she hadn't left yet. As he walked he over heard a conversation about a furry gray creature that had decided to steal a flamin' hot snack off his stand. Karu figured that had to be bahgeera he'd just described. He almost wished he could have seen the pet's reaction to eating something so spicy.

With a small smile he continued on and asked a few more people. He came upon a stand with two females who looked rather panicked and were rummaging around in their bags. Off to the side there was an old man counting and splitting up money.

"Excuse me, have either of you ladies seen a girl with, uh, brownish hair, she had a furry gray creature with her about yae big." He said motioning with his hands how big he thought Bahgeera to be.

They looked at him with a funny look. "I can't say that I have." The girl with a bandanna said, she was the earth bender of the two.

"Oh, but I remember Kiu barking at a gray striped gray animal..." Said the girl dressed in fire nation cloths and dark skin.

It appeared that they finished the conversation right there as they continued with their rummaging and packing.

"Uh...which was did they go?" he asked as he tried to control his annoyance.

"To the harbor." The dark skinned girl shrugged and pointed with her thumb.

"Thank you!" Karu shouted and rushed off toward the harbor where he saw eerie looking ships. He cursed to himself for leaving his little mini telescope back in his pack. When the flag came down it was clear, pirates were about to port and wreak havoc on the merchant village.

"Where are you Naomi..." he growled out in annoyance as he searched the docks and beach. He saw something in his peripherals, a movement where there wasn't any. His head turned to see Noami attempting to run up the beach and then sprint up into the streets.

"What, am I goin' to have to chase her all over this bloody town?" He yelled in frustration. Once again he gained weird looks from the crowds as he turned and did his best to follow her through the streets.

* * *

**Kaytrine**

The early hours of the morning Kaytrine spent making sure everything was packed. What she didn't bring her grandfather would take back home with him. After the main things were packed, she and Zulani began the day by sitting behind the merchant stand. It was boring, but she wanted to do her best before she left grandpa all by his lonesome, though he kept assuring her that he'd be fine.

As the morning wore on they grew bored and began joking around with each other and the customers, making sure to laugh loud so they could gain the attention of others walking around them.

Sometime during the late morning, or perhaps it was just at noon, Kiu began to bark obnoxiously. The two girls turned to see a girl dressed in earth nation clothing and had a curling brown mixed hair, like a dishwater brown, and a growling light gray striped creature. They had a brief exchange as the girl was one her way. Nothing about her stuck in Kaytrine's memory for long.

The sun drifted across the sky more as the morning became afternoon. A messenger came galloping up on his Elk Hound looking rather panicked.

"Good merchant, you may want to pack up now 'afore it begins!" The man said to her grandpa.

"What begins?" Kaytrine asked, obvious to what was going on down in the harbor.

"Pirates have docked onto shore!" He said and not a moment later kicked the Elk Hound into a gallop once more. All three shared a look before they started packing.

Her grandfather quickly began to count the money and splitting it up to give to Kaytrine and Zulani their portion. It was agreed that they would split up not so he could go to safety while they left town. Kaytrine wanted to at least walk her grandpa and his goods to the safe place before they hit the road.

In the middle of packing everything up, a boy about her age came up. He had short spiked hair and his cloths were plain, that of earth nation. He asked Zulani a few questions and once we'd answered him he hurried off.

"He's in a rush." Her grandfather commented as he came over.

"Yes grandpa, and so are we, now let's get these bags into the cart."

They'd just barely gotten him to the safe place where a few other merchants were that had also gotten the warning when the nightmare began outside. Those who could fought back as the pirates raided the place. Quick like they high tailed out of the city, and they were so close too!

Fate wouldn't have it as Zulani was captured by the brutes. Kaytrine was _not_ going to leave her new friend so she called Kiu over to her. He was growling in irritation and barking at everyone. Together they followed after the men, Kiu using his strong sense of smell and over all sense around him, and Kaytrine using her eyes.

Kiu turned off course towards a shed where she found a faintly familiar girl in distress. She used her earth bending to scare the pirates off and save the girl. After that she was faced with an amazing sight.

* * *

**Feel like reviewing now?**

**I know it's epically short compared to the first chap, but I felt like leaving it at SOME kind of cliff hanger :3  
**


End file.
